


Beginnings

by lesbianmezzo



Category: The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Asexual Character, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, your average friends to lovers fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 13:03:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8752633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianmezzo/pseuds/lesbianmezzo
Summary: Kevin Price is honest: with himself and with others. And honestly, he finds himself head-over-heels in love with his district leader. A story of first love, identity, and Arnold being the most supportive best friend.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second work (or my first "serious" work) in this fandom, so I hope you enjoy this! It's literally just your average McPriceley, watch them get together again, we never really get tired of it, do we?

"So, got anyone you're going to be itching to go back for?" Arnold asked, adding a wink for good measure. Kevin looked back in confusion as he opened his last boiled sweet. 

"You know... a _girlfriend_ " 

"Oh! No, no I don't."

"Oh..." Arnold seemed to have a realisation. "Ooh, have you got a boyfriend!"

Kevin's eyes widened. 

The crowded aeroplane suddenly seemed completely silent, as if everyone was waiting for Kevin's response. He couldn't hear the baby that's been crying for the last four hours or the man behind them who was snoring extremely loudly over the ringing in his ears.

"I'm not going to judge. Spirk, Bagginshield, Johnlock, it's all good."

"Uh, no. You don't have anything to worry about Elder, I _promise_ I will focus entirely on our mission." 

"Oh no, I wasn't going to doubt that."

"Have you got anyone?"

"Unfortunately, not many people want to go on dates with me. I think I have boiled it down to my views on Darth Maul. Although I thought literally nobody liked the prequels. Suppose people are just trying to find something good about them. I'll just not mention them in future." Arnold sighed and shook his head before seizing a new bag of skittles.

Kevin was just overjoyed that the conversation topic was no longer about his (quite absent) love life. It wasn't that he'd never been asked out; that'd certainly happened many times: Amy in 9th Grade, Jess the year after, and he got a surprising number of invites to prom. No, he'd turned them all down for focusing on his religion, and because none of the girls made him feel anything. No fluttering heart, or blurry eyes, nothing that any of the other boys had described. But that was something to concentrate on after his mission. 

-

After their very odd and very shocking arrival to Kitugli, they were accompanied by who Kevin thought was a very nice, polite, young girl, Nabalungi; Who Arnold thought was extremely attractive. And nice. And pretty. In fact, he thought she was a lot of things, and Kevin smirked at the blush on Arnold's cheek as his gaze followed Nabalungi away.

The Mission "Hut" they were standing in front of was not big, and appeared to have a ridiculous number of repairs. The missionaries here clearly had their work cut out for them on this project, but how many baptisms could they have done for the people here? Kevin eased the door open gently enough so that it wouldn't fall off its hinges, and tentatively stepped inside, followed closely by Arnold. 

"Hello?"

Six elders leapt out from various hiding posts around the room. 

"The New Recruits are here!" One of the elders beamed. Oh _Lord_.

Kevin had watched a lot of Disney movies in his time. A lot. He had seen "love at first sight" play out on his screen over and over, in every single way. Whether he believed it to be real or not, he knew that it was definitely not supposed to happen on your mission, for a boy. But there they were, the 'fireworks'.

He was- Kevin was hesitant to be cliche- but he was gorgeous. Red hair pushed back, with a few loose strands falling onto his forehead, ice-blue eyes, and a genuine sweet smile. 

Shit.

He then mentally apologised for swearing. 

"Welcome, Elder Price and Elder... Cunningham, I am Elder McKinley, current district leader for this area of the Uganda mission."

'The district leader?! This can't be good. It's gotta stop. Right now.' Thought Kevin as his eyes did not obey and tried to memorise every detail of Elder McKinley's face. 

Arnold had most definitely caught on by now. The half grin he was doing coupled with the obvious wink was enough confirmation. He worked fast.

"Nice to meet you." Kevin finally managed to mutter. Jeez, is it going to be like this for two years? 

They were introduced to Elder Church, Elder Michaels, Elder Thomas (of course) and Neeley and Davis. 

Kevin began to become anxious when they announced that there had been zero baptisms. Despite his new found confusing feelings, he still needed to focus on his mission, he still needed to do something incredible. The best way to explain it to Arnold was simply "confused". 

This was obviously the wrong answer, because Arnold's eyes lit up and made a pointed stare at Elder McKinley. 

"Well, Elder, being confused is natural. There are certainly a lot of things in Uganda that can be... disturbing. But your mission has officially started, which means you need to do what we have all done." Elder McKinley walked towards Kevin and placed a tentative palm on his shoulder. Kevin did the best he could not to show it, but of course, Arnold noticed the hitch in his breath. 

Kevin mostly tuned out the stories of Elder Church's home life, and Elder "Poptarts" sister, although he really did feel quite sorry for them, the only anecdote that piqued his interest was Elder McKinley's. 

The new information hit him like a ton of bricks. So Elder McKinley was gay. 

Kevin wasn't having gay thoughts- well, he wasn't about to admit it straight away. At least not to the entirety of District 9. That night, at about 11:30, Arnold sat up in his small single bed and turned to look at Kevin. 

"Buddy."

"What now, Elder Cunningham? Are you alright? 

"The real question is are you alright? You were making some funny glances and Sequinned-Vest-And-Tap-Shoes over there."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. All of the other Elders ended up in vests anyway- I even ended up wearing a vest. Go to sleep- I thought we'd already been through this."

"Yeah, but being your best friend, I've gotta be there for you in every way! Even when you have a little crush..." 

"What?! Just go to sleep. I'm not continuing this discussion."

"Ok, Bud, but don't think this is over. I'm not gonna let you suffer and keep it all in like the others do. It's not good for anyone." Arnold gave a gigantic yawn, and soon later, was snoring loudly.

"He's smarter than he looks." Kevin concluded quietly.

The encounters with the thoughts did not stop: next, there was the hell dream. Why was Elder McKinley there? Well of course it was obvious why he was there, thanks for that, god.

When he finally woke up with a jolt, he was greeted with the smiling faces of all of the other elders. Kevin looked around and found himself lying on a dusty patch of earth, under a graffiti covered wooden shelter. 

"Wha- Where am I?"

"Looks like you fell asleep at the bus station!" Said Elder Davis with a grin.

"We were so worried!" Chimed in Elder Church. 

"Are you alright, Elder?" McKinley asked, offering an outstretched hand which Kevin took, ignoring any sort of pleasant burning wherever their skin touched (or his heart, which even after the spookiest of hell dreams should not be beating that fast.) 

"Well, not really- I mean yes, yes I'm fine." Kevin smoothed out his hair, and drew himself up. "I'm sorry, ok, I'm sorry I had a little meltdown last night. I'm not leaving, alright? I realised while I was asleep that it's wrong and I've got to...stick to my work."

Elder McKinley looked at him in disbelief and smiled. "You had the hell dream, didn't you?"

Kevin looked at him in slight panic.

"Was I in it?" 

Kevin could feel his heartbeat in his ears. 'Not now, not now, we're not going to do this now, or ever.' Were Kevin's immediate thoughts. His eyes met Elder McKinley's. They were soft, and worrisome, and they were looking right into his heart. Maybe he should-

Luckily, Arnold came onto the scene at exactly that moment- and if he wasn't so furious at Kevin, he might have just regretted ruining the moment. At least more than he already did. 

- 

The rest of the truly eventful week played out, meanwhile, Kevin discovered coffee, and tried to drown his feelings in caffeine. And after the entire district had been helpfully excommunicated, Kevin continued to drown his feelings in caffeine. It seemed to be a better way of coping than turning it off anyway. He grimaced as he finished the bitter dregs of his last coffee of the day, whilst sitting at the dining table in the mission hut, surrounded by paper. His first task of the next day, editing some of Arnold's work. He liked to think that whilst Arnold was the actual creative force, he provided a sturdy support for him, the sort of thing he, at first, imagined Arnold would provide for him. 

Kevin sighed and re-ordered all of the  pages, some typewritten, some handwritten in Arnold's friendly, bold script. 

Kevin stood up and began to walk over to the sink. He just about dropped his mug when he heard a momentous gasp from the tiny cupboard office at the back of the hut. He may have even heard his name. 

"Elder McKinley? Are you still awake?" Said Kevin, making his way over to the door.  

"Oh!" McKinley sounded mortified. "My gosh- I thought everyone had gone to bed." He seemed out of breath.

"Well, Elder, you know me, workaholic. Can I come in?"  

"Uh, can you just wait... one second... hold on-" McKinley stuttered. There was a pause, some shuffling, and he opened the door with his freckled cheeks a deep crimson. 

"Are you alright Elder?" 

"Oh! Am I red? Ah, the curse of red hair! The Ugandan sun has clearly not been kind to me today!" McKinley gave a nervous, forced laugh. 

"Okay..." Kevin was unconvinced. He didn't like to jump to conclusions but what had just happened sounded very like- This is not a place where Kevin's mind is going. 

McKinley closed the office door behind him and made a break for his bedroom door. "Goodnight Elder!" He said, still with a blush on his face.

Kevin stood, stunned. Gosh- Elder McKinley was- the beginning of this thought made Kevin blush, so he decided to simply go to bed and promptly forget about it. Unfortunately, Arnold would not allow that.  

Kevin closed the door to his room, and ran a hand through his hair. What just happened? Elder McKinley had been behaving very strangely, and he had been looking at Kevin extremely strangely. It was a strange experience all over.  

Kevin turned around and saw Arnold lying on his front with his hands tucked under his chin. "What was that, that just happened?" 

"You heard?"

"Every word, buddy. Saw it all too."

Kevin sighed and started getting ready for bed. 

"Really, if there's something you gotta tell me, we've been through enough together that you can trust me right?" Arnold smiled.

"I'm- well, I don't really know what I am-"

"Well, let's do a little survey then." Arnold sat up, put his glasses on the end of his nose and spoke in what could only be described as a 'therapist voice' "Do you like Elder McSparkles?" 

"Ha ha." Kevin balled his hands into fists. "Also... yes... yes I do... a lot." He whispered.

"Aha! So you like guys- have you ever liked girls?"

"Keep your voice down!" Kevin hissed, crawling into bed. "No. I haven't. Nothing like this."

"Kevin, buddy, I think you might be gay."

Kevin's expression erupted in fear. Of course he knew- he'd been having gay thoughts- the whole identity thing usually follows, but hearing it out loud was a little more shocking than he anticipated "Do you think anyone else knows?" 

"If they've caught on, it's to do with your flirtatious habits with McKinley, and they're really not gonna care. And if it's religion, firstly, god made you like this and that's just how you are, and two, the book of Arnold not only promotes self acceptance, but also is ok with any sexuality and gender." Arnold offered a sympathetic smile. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm pansexual."

"What's that?"

"Well, putting the pan jokes aside, I don't really see gender at all when I love someone, it's all about that individual person. Who at the moment is Nabalungi." His eyes lit up when he said her name.

"Are you going to tell him?" Arnold asked.

"Another day, perhaps." Kevin answered, turning over, and softly closing his eyes. Arnold smiled. 

- 

Days passed, and Kevin avoided Elder McKinley. Well, as much as he could. He'd excuse himself to do mountains of paperwork, but as soon as McKinley needed help, Kevin would be there immediately, and then scurry off back to his original task. Every night he'd run the obstacles and problems between him and McKinley through his head, and Arnold would try and convince him that sooner was better than later.  

Kevin was an early riser, he always had been: so many years of the rules drilled into him were hard to dismiss or change, and he was always the first up in the mission hut. He took the time alone to sit at the dining table, reading and drinking his coffee. However, that peace was not going to last long. McKinley's bedroom door opened, and he stepped out, looking a little nervous. 

"Ah! Elder Price."  

"Morning, Elder. Everything ok?" 

"Elder Price- I need to- to ask you a question." He said, wringing his hands together. "Have you been avoiding me? Have I done something wrong? You only seem to talk to me if I actually need something."

"Well, the thing is-" Kevin spluttered, the words not quite coming out right, "I've just been- busy."

"You were very busy before- and we still talked. It's not been that long I know, but I... miss your company."

Kevin froze. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and it seemed as if every butterfly in the world had congregated in his stomach.  

He finally took a breath. "Kevin."

McKinley looked at him quizzically. "What?" 

"Kevin. My name is Kevin."

"Oh. Connor." He said, holding out a hand. Kevin stood up and shook it, and looked at Connor. Their eyes met, and Kevin's hand fell to his side.

"There's something I have to tell you, Connor."

A wave of fear, mixed with hope crossed Connor's face.

"Ever since I arrived here- ever since I saw you- I've been... I've felt-"

Connor grabbed Kevin's arms "If you're going to say what I think you're going to say-"

"Connor, I love you." A huge smile broke across Kevin's face, as both shock and joy crossed Connor's. 

"Would it be against the rules if I were  to kiss you, right now?"

"Certainly not of the Book Of Arnold. He's been pestering me about this for weeks."

Connor laughed brightly, before taking Kevin's face in his hands and kissing him. 

Kevin concluded that nothing could ever feel so right. 

When finally pulling away, he looked Connor in the eye again, memorising the sheer happiness on his face.  

And with the early morning sun filtering in through the windows, they held each other and kissed. 

Arnold cheered.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, check out my tumblr:  
> http://www.lesbianmezzo.tumblr.com


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